As You Are (11 page)

“Jennie has agreed to behave, and I'm telling you, Julian.” Mom was giving me her no-nonsense-allowed look. “I won't stand for any of it.”

I held up my hand. “I will treat her exactly as I am treated.”

Mom rolled her eyes as Dad smiled. “That's all we can ask of the boy.”

“Thank you, Dad.” I smiled at him for understanding that I would defend myself if necessary.

I noticed my mother giving the pleading eyes to Danny, who obviously had no idea what was going on.

“I'll do my best to keep him out of trouble?” Danny looked very confused and downright adorable.

“Don't let her fool you for one minute.” Dad picked up one of the suitcases the driver had carried up onto the porch. “I think your mother's hoping you'll both explode and try to kill one another during the service.”

I laughed. Dad was right on the money. Mom reached over and pinched him in the side. He cringed, then laughed more.

“I'm doing my damnedest to put my own feelings aside and help out wherever I can,” Mom said.

“I realize that, darling.” Dad grinned at her, and she shot back a flirty look.

“What's going on with the two of you?” I picked up a couple of bags and followed my preening parents into the house.

“What do you mean?” Mom asked innocently, as if I were the nutter.

“You're all nice and flirty to one another. It's creeping me out.”

“That's a fine way to act,” Mom scolded as we entered the large foyer with the monumental crystal chandelier dangling overhead. The house felt so massive that it almost had a weight to it as you walked inside. There'd been times when I was a child that this home had made me feel safe, and other times when it had felt oppressive.

“Your mother has been a great help to me the past few days.” Dad stated the fact emphatically, as if to let me know he didn't appreciate my snarky comment. “We've mended some of our fences, so keep your sarcasm to yourself.”

I felt Danny smack me with a bag from behind as we began to climb the grand staircase. I turned around, and Danny gave me a mean look. I nodded and shrugged.

“I'm very sorry; I'm just a little shocked.”
Please feel free to pass me some of the Kool-Aid you've both been drinking
. I smiled.
Give some to Danny while you're at it.

“I hope you boys don't mind sharing a room.” Mom threw out.

Thank you, Mother
. “I'm sure Danny—”

“It's perfectly fine; please don't go to any trouble,” Danny interrupted from behind as we reached the second-floor landing.

I knew Danny couldn't see the large smile that had spread across my face, since he was behind me, but I was certain Mom had noticed it out of the corner of her eye.

“Since Jennie and her kids are on the third floor, we decided to keep you down here.” Mom led us into one of the smaller second-floor bedrooms.

It was a light, airy room with a queen-size bed and two large, lace-curtained windows on either side that looked out over the back part of the property. The creaky wood floors and tall ceilings raised childhood memories. The smell of the old place especially brought me back. Slightly musty. I'd always thought that the house smelled like history.

“We stuck you off to the side so you'd have more privacy,” Mom added as she and Dad turned to leave. “We'll be downstairs. Come on down once you've settled in.”

My dad winked at me. “Good to see you, kiddo.”

“Good to see you too, Dad.” They pulled the door closed behind them, and I looked at Danny. “I'm so sorry.”

Danny laughed a bit and collapsed back onto the bed. “It's no big deal. I'm just glad I can be here for you.”

I flopped down next to him and fell back, stretching. I laughed when he poked me in the ribs a couple of times.

“So what's the deal with this Jennie person?”

I grumbled a sound to let him know exactly how much I loathed her. Danny laughed and rolled onto his side to face me from the bed. If there was one thing I hated more about my childhood, aside from my parents' divorce and Gary Hamm, the neighborhood bully, it would be having to spend my summers with the priggish preteen Jennie Hallowell.

“My cousin, whose name used to be Jennifer Jean Hallowell.” I curled my lip thinking about her. “Now there's a hyphen Anderson attached.”

Danny pulled his legs up onto the bed and propped his head on his elbow like he was a little kid getting ready for story time.

“Jennie has always desperately wanted to be the apple of everyone's eye. Perception matters more to Jennie than anything else in the whole world. It's her oxygen.” I smiled back when Danny grinned at me. I couldn't help myself. It took everything I had to keep my mind on the story I was telling and away from thoughts of sleeping in the same bed with him later that night. “She couldn't have given two shits as to whether or not I was queer. It was, however, unforgivable for me to be open about it. Every time Jennie looks at me, all she sees is the ugly blemish on the family. The bruised fruit, so to speak.”

Danny laughed out loud. “I like bruised fruit.”

I grinned so wide, I must've looked like the Joker. Was Danny flirting with me or just being kind? “No one else in the family seems to care that much one way or the other. Even Jennie's parents, my aunt and uncle, have been very supportive. But to Jennie, my gayness is unforgivable. I think she'd prefer that I'd been a serial killer. At least then she could have me locked away and hidden somewhere.”

“Do you think she's a lesbo?”

“No,” I said. “For once I don't think this is one of those cases where the person protesting the loudest is a big ole' take-it-up-the-ass fairy—or clit licker, as it would be in her case. It's really not that big a deal.” I stared out the window. “Other than my hatred for her, it's all good.”

Danny smiled and shook his head at me. “Your family is so amazing to me.”

I rolled onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “I'm really glad you came.”

He rolled to his back again, stretching out next to me. “Me too.”

* * * * *

Once we unpacked and settled ourselves into the room, Danny and I borrowed Dad's Lexus and ran over to the Galleria. Danny didn't have a suit, so we popped into Macy's and picked one up. Danny was a little thicker through the chest, making a comfortable fit into most standard sizes difficult, but we managed to find a black Hugo Boss that fit quite nicely. Perhaps too nicely. I found myself getting aroused when he came out of the dressing room wearing it. He just
had
to be the kind of guy who looked great
in
everything as well as out of everything.

That evening, the viewing went by without a hitch, and we managed to make it through a late family dinner in peace. While looks could kill, Jennie and I managed to maintain our distance and keep things peaceful. How the hell she'd wound up snagging such a hot husband, I didn't know. Benjamin Anderson looked like a live-action Ken doll, and while he and I had never spoken before, I had it on good authority from my father that he was of like mind with Jennie where we queer folk were concerned.

While Jennie had invited me to her wedding last year, she'd made it quite clear that I wasn't allowed a plus-one. I, of course, didn't bother to RSVP. I apologized to my father and to my aunt and uncle, and asked them to please convey my well wishes to the happy couple. The best part was that Mom didn't go either.

Jennie had always loved my mother. The fact that Delilah was always flawlessly put together had been a powerful lure to the Martha Stewart wannabe. Jennie had been drawn to her as a child. My mother, on the other hand, hadn't been very fond of Jennie since she'd become so vocal in her disdain for my mother's little cub.

Danny stuck to me like flypaper all evening—as if I were an unstable bomb that might go off at any minute. I did, however, catch him giving Jennie's husband the evil eye. I thought it was sweet but unnecessary. The last thing Jennie would want was a big scuffle on her account. At the same time, I knew she was waiting for any little crack or comment from me that she could exploit to toss aside the promise she'd made and attack. She wasn't going to get it.

By the time we were ready for bed that night, I was exhausted and exhilarated. It was one of those times where I could be asleep or aroused in seconds, depending on which way things happened to go. It was mid-July, and while the big, old house had air-conditioning, it didn't seem to work real well. It had never been an issue while Granny Grace was alive; she liked it hot. “
The hotter the better
,” she always said.

Personally, I thought opening the windows would have made it more pleasant, but it was tolerable as long as you didn't fidget and move around too much. While I'd dozed off the instant my head hit the pillow, at some point during the night my eyes popped open. I was disoriented for a moment, before realizing Danny had rolled over onto me—his arm across my chest, his leg between mine, his knee pressed up into my balls. As if that weren't enough, what felt like a most impressive erection weighed into my hip. We'd certainly seen each other naked before, but I'd never caught a glimpse of Danny in all his…glory. I couldn't see his erection, but it sure as hell felt really great. I glanced down to see my own hard-on poking out of the elastic waistband of my undies. I wasn't sure, but for a second I was convinced the one eye my dick had was pleading with me to put it out of its achy misery.

The room was dark, but moonlight spilled through the windows and across the bed, illuminating our bodies. The sheet had somehow gotten kicked off and was now scrunched up at our feet. I could hear the faint sound of a cricket outside somewhere and the light
clank
of the chain that was dangling from the ceiling fan we had on high. Danny nuzzled his face into my neck, and his light snoring buzzed softly into my ear.

The weight of his thick arm across my chest burned into my skin. I rolled slowly onto my side, turning away from him while hanging on to his arm. When I got onto my side, I pulled on his arm and smiled as he nuzzled closer, spooning me. I wasn't positive, but it felt as if Danny lightly kissed the back of my neck. The room was still warm, but I didn't give a damn as I felt the heat from his body slice into my back. I closed my eyes, thinking I might die.

I just barely woke at some point once more in the night. When I heard again the soft drone of Danny's snoring, a chill thrill ran through me, and I fell back to sleep, contented and safe.

My eyes fluttered open as sunlight filtered in from the windows. Danny was snoring softly as I lay wrapped up in his arms. I felt Danny's hand move a little and realized it was resting over my own hard-on.

It was only a little after eight, and while it was way early for me, it was really late for Danny, who moaned softly, pulling me tighter as he ground his cock into my ass. I then felt Danny's hand squeeze my hard-on, and I bit my lower lip as my eyes rolled back into my head.

I'd swear Danny was doing it on purpose if he hadn't been snoring. I'd never been this close to him. It made it difficult for me to collect my thoughts. I realized that at some point the sheet managed to make its way back over us. A little moan escaped my lips as Danny rubbed my cock again, almost as if slowly jerking me off. I felt a little precum ooze out, and I closed my eyes.

Holy fuck, I thought, arching my back and pressing my ass into Danny's erection as he ground it into me. He rubbed my cock a little more, and I froze as he softly snored again. I realized that Danny didn't know he was doing what he was doing. As badly as I wanted him to keep doing it, I began to freak, wondering if Danny would freak should he wake up and realize he had his hand on my dick and his cock practically up my ass.

I let out another tiny groan as he pressed into me again. I was about ready to burst feeling the head of my cock begin that familiar tingling. If Danny didn't want this, it could make for a very awkward and uncomfortable day. The last thing I needed would be to have Danny feel the need to avoid me all day out of embarrassment.

I slowly began to lean backward, and Danny made a little noise as he rolled over onto his back. Inching over to the side of the bed, I breathed steadily as I pulled away from him. I lifted the covers and slid out.

I glanced back at Danny and made sure I hadn't woken him. Tiptoeing through the room, I made for the tiny adjoining bathroom, where I ducked in and closed the door. It took about two seconds for me to get out of my underwear and shoot my load into my hand. The difficult part had been keeping the noise down. I felt instantly better as I reached in and turned on the shower. My head was still buzzing from the orgasm as I stepped under the cool water.

When I made my way back into the bedroom, Danny was still asleep. I quietly went to my suitcase and pulled out some clothes. I tossed on a plain white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. I was dying for some caffeine and desperate for a smoke. I turned to head for the door to the hall, but hearing a little moan, I stopped. I smiled and spun around, looking back at the bed. I could see the large lump under the sheets. I bit my lip as I allowed my gaze to slowly wander over Danny's bare chest, down the ridges of his stomach, until I reached the little patch of hair that started just under his belly button and disappeared under the sheet.

I knew it was stupid, but I was unable to stop myself. I crept back over and slowly leaned over the edge of the bed. I reached out and grabbed the top of the sheet, lifting it cautiously. I peeked underneath and nodded, impressed by the several inches of Danny's morning wood sticking up out of his briefs. It was long and thick with a large head, and there was a mouthwatering small pool of precum that had leaked onto his abdomen.